


Fly, Alex!

by Wasted_Fox



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, The Land of Stories Series - Chris Colfer
Genre: Gen, The Land of Stories: Beyond the Kingdoms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-03
Updated: 2019-12-03
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:54:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21658603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wasted_Fox/pseuds/Wasted_Fox
Summary: Alex tries to recollect a happy memory to take off.The story takes place in TLOS-4, after Peter Pan gave pixie dust to Alex, Conner, Red and the Tin Woodman and told them to “think lovely, wonderful thoughts.”
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	Fly, Alex!

-1-

Alex closed her eyes trying to recollect the happiest memory in her life. She concentrated as hard as she could and was definitely ready for the flight. She already had enough of earth stuff. Frankly speaking, all kinds of horrible things happened to her when she was attached to the ground. Sky was her chance to start from a clean page in a new environment — just as it was when she moved to the fairy tale world. Well, it turned out to be as cruel and complicated as the Otherworld, but maybe this time…

Alex looked at her feet intently. Thinking “lovely, wonderful thoughts” was not so easy.

After all, the Tin Woodman took off in a heartbeat, and flew in an unknown direction followed by Red, running and yelling “How did you do it? Wait for me!” “What was so happy about his life?” Alex wondered. This was embarrassing. Conner was floating a few feet above the earth. Peter was circling in the air impatiently. Pixie dust was getting wet in Alex’s hand.

She heard Mother Goose ask, “Where is this Neverland, anyway?”

“It’s the second star to the right, and straight on until morning!” Peter called out and made a happy somersault in the air.

Just as he said it, an unusually bright star appeared in the night sky above. Other ones started to come out, too, and soon the whole sky was covered in stars. It was so beautiful, Alex gasped. The whole universe was unfolding in front of her and her friends. No one, except Peter, could now tell the star they needed to find their way to Neverland from other magnificent celestial bodies pouring their light on the group.

Alex was mesmerized. The stars were speaking directly to her heart, and her heart grew bigger, bigger than the Universe, which was endless. Alex couldn’t contain it anymore. Tears of joy appeared in her eyes, and she felt there was nothing she couldn’t survive, even her own death. It wasn’t a lovely thought, but it was wonderful, indeed.

Suddenly, Alex felt warm pure energy spread through her body and performed magic — but her feet didn’t move (“What?”), her hair didn’t float (“Good!”) and her body didn’t take off. Instead, a cloud of silver light came out of her right hand. The mist was unfolding and growing bigger. Finally, it took a shape of a chubby unicorn with a broken horn.

“Wow!” Conner said, floating nearby.

“Are you riding a unicorn to Neverland just like I’m riding Lester?” Mother Goose asked.

“Cornelius?” Alex said, and the silver cloud changed its shape. It was no longer a unicorn — instead, a short man with a brush moustache and a concerned look was standing in front of the group. The man was wearing a silver cloak and had a silver wand in his hand.

“Who’s that?” Alex thought. “Did he come here on purpose or did I make him do it? I totally lack control of my powers.”

She narrowed her eyes. _That book_ wasn’t meant to be an ingredient in the mix of plots! It wasn’t even written yet when her uncle was a kid, and Alex didn’t see any copies of _Harry Potter_ in the fairy tale world, so it couldn’t be a portal of any kind — or could it?

Everything about this situation was odd. Alex was standing in Kensington Gardens, inside _Peter Pan_ the book, and she somehow brought to life a silvery unicorn slash a magician — an entity that changed its shape. Could it turn into a horrific creature and attack her and her friends? Was it alive?

The more Alex thought about it, the more she wanted to rewind last five minutes and try again, maybe she needed soaking in the light of the Universe a bit longer. Suddenly, she heard a shrill scream and glanced around: Red was floating nearby just a couple of feet above earth, but, according to her volume, you might think she had rocketed to outer space.

Alex got frustrated. Why, for earth’s sake, can’t she fly like a normal person?

“I’m the Queen of the world!”

“Sweety, sweety”, said the Tin Woodman, flying behind her, “your voice is clear and strong, but could you please?..”

“Am I loud or something?” asked Red. “Froggy used to tell me that a lot.” A memory of her lost fiancé made her sad, and Red landed softly on the ground.

“Oh, no, you only want to think lovely, wonderful thoughts”, Peter said, “or the three of us will never have a proper game of sky tag. You have to fly, it’s the rule.”

“I’ll try again”, announced Red. “And this time I’ll be really quiet.”

Peter and the Tin Woodman shared a smile. In a minute half of the Universe heard another “I’m the Queen of the world!”

-2-

A silvery man in a silvery cloak looked at his silvery watch and coughed.

“I am here, as I’m sure you know”, he started, “because of Albus Dumbledore’s will.”

“Albus Dumbledore’s?” Conner said.

Mother Goose looked startled.

“I’m Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic…”

“Cornelius, right”, Alex thought, remembering the silver unicorn. Wait, was he her Patronus?

“You were not aware, then, that Dumbledore had left you anything?” the Minister asked, inspecting their faces carefully, as if he was waiting for a particular reaction but didn’t see it.

“Al died?” Mother Goose said at last. “When? Why? Why didn’t I hear anything from anybody? What kind of friend does it make me?”

“You knew Albus Dumbledore?” Conner asked.

“Let’s just say we had a bunch of adventures together.”

Up to this moment Conner didn’t think he could be more thrilled about Mother Goose’s life. But her sharing adventures with _the_ Albus Dumbledore made him speechless.

“And now I didn’t even know he died.”

“What happened, Mother Goose?” Alex asked softly.

The old lady hesitated, not sure if she wanted to share.

“Please tell us”, said Conner. “Did you have a fight?”

“Well, finally, I wanted to have an adventure of my own, without measuring whose wand was longer, if you know what I mean”, Mother Goose said. “And without stupid Walterswils — Guggisbergs — What’s-His-Face sneaking in and hanging around. I don’t even remember the bastard’s name, that’s how I hate him!”

“Grindelwald?” Conner guessed.

“Right. Thanks, C-Dog. How do _you_ know him, that nasty son of a witch? He was such a peacock. I hope Albus eventually got over that mother—”

“I’m sorry, ma’am”, the Minister said quickly. “There are kids here.”

Mother Goose chuckled.

“It’s so weird”, she said to Alex. “You’re old enough to rule a kingdom, but still, too young to hear certain expressions. But when you rule a kingdom, you need them more than anything, because, just between us, your people are not always at their best. Besides, certain words help you perform stronger magic, especially when you can’t manage a spell from the first shot.”

Alex blushed.

“We’ve all been there, girl.”

“You ruled a kingdom, Mother Goose?” Alex asked.

“It’s a funny story. I’ll tell it to you some time when there are no Ministers around.”

“So Grindelwald walked into the room, and you walked out”, Conner said with a hint of disapproval. He would never ever leave a person like Dumbledore with an evil wizard.

“That son of a witch called me a hag! So I had some booze and spoke some rhymes, after which Albus, You-Know-Who and I couldn’t stay in the same room anymore.”

“And now you regret it”, realized Alex.

“I never regret poetry”, Mother Goose said proudly. “Besides, Albus was a fatal mistake. He spoiled me. After meeting him I was never really interested in dull, silly or shallow men. It’s like socks and sandals.”

“What?”

“Yeah”, Mother Goose continued, pleased with her metaphor. “See, when you don’t know people shouldn’t wear both socks and sandals — it doesn’t bother you at all. But when you know it… Every poor combination of footwear scratches your eye.”

Conner looked at his feet. There was no way anyone would make a special rule for such a silly thing. He could ask Red, though, as she was the shoe expert of the group.

“I’m so lucky that I met them — people like Albus and your Granny, so understanding, and talented, and wise. And now they are both gone.”

Mentioning her Grandmother made Alex’s eyes wet. There was so much more she wanted to share with her, and do together, and find out about her.

“And who knows, maybe I’m next in line to return to magic?”

Mother Goose bit her tongue. She shouldn’t have gone so far. Now the twins will have issues with using happy memories.

Conner patted his sister on the shoulder. It appeared that Mother Goose, the Strong and Cheerful, had a bitter side to her. Conner could nearly see the pedestal under his role model crashing, pieces of stone flying in all directions. Did he really believe that anyone could live a life without sorrow or losses? So silly of him — yet, he already missed this shiny illusion.

“I guess, my little thing for silver-bearded men might be also his guilt.” Mother Goose said and winked at Alex. “But did he leave anything for me?” she suddenly asked the Minister who was glancing at his watch every now and then during her emotional speech. He was too polite to stop a lady, but was obviously happy to return to business now.

“Yes”, the Minister said and pulled a small misty ball out of nowhere. The little thing stretched its silver wings and tried to escape, but the magician was holding it tightly.

“Wait”, said Conner, and his belief in Mother Goose, the Great and Powerful, came back. “Can you play Quidditch?”

“Not only can I play — I _did_ play a couple of years in Glasgow Gooses. We won the cup, and soon I left the team, um, for personal reasons.”

“‘To Mother Theresa Goose’”, the Minister read, “‘I leave the Snitch she caught in her last Quidditch match, as a reminder of the rewards of perseverance and skill.’”

“Wait, what?”

“Why do you think Dumbledore left you this object?” said Minister.

“Are you kidding me? Is this really what he wrote: ‘perseverance and skill’? Show me the paper! Now!” Mother Goose demanded.

The Minister froze in astonishment for a second, and this allowed the angry woman to reach for the document, grab it from his hands, feel it materialize, make sure that it said just what everyone heard, and tear the damned parchment into pieces.

“What are you doing, ma’am?” said the Minister. “For your information, it is an official document. It was, in fact.”

“What’s wrong about it?” Alex said.

“Weren’t you the one who caught a Snitch?” Conner asked.

“I was.”

“Then why are you mad?”

“Well, how do I say it? It was a pretty long match, and I was the reason why we couldn’t catch a Snitch for ages.”

“Were you aggressive?” Conner asked.

“No, I wasn’t”, Mother Goose laughed. “I was too friendly, I’d put it.”

The twins glanced at each other, confused. Mother Goose took a deep breath.

-3-

“It was a cold and nasty day”, Mother Goose started, “it had been raining since previous week. Why, for Goose’s sake, did they schedule finals for late December? Anyway, I had to catch the Snitch while not catching a cold. It could be tricky, so I took some booze as I didn’t have any cough syrup and went to the field.

“Rain soaked my cloak immediately, and I took some more booze — just to protect myself. The balls were let out, and the game started.

“It was so dark that I could hardly see the end of my broomstick — not to mention a small golden ball hiding somewhere on the other side of the field. I tried to seek for it for an hour or two, but the bloody thing was nowhere to be found. The Cannons could catch the Snitch any moment, and then we would lose!”

“You played against Chudley Cannons!” Conner exclaimed.

Mother Goose nodded.

“So I had some more booze to lessen the tension”, she continued. “A tense player is not a player at all, you know. I felt much better. I only was sorry I didn’t have a buddy to share my booze with ’cause all the other Gooses were so involved in the game, they didn’t even notice me. But then I saw the Cannons’ Seeker.”

“No”, Conner said.

“Yes. The guy was a mess: wet hair stuck to his forehead and cheeks, his glasses only staying dry and waterproof. I felt sorry for the colleague and offered him my flask. He seemed to like my booze, and soon we were speaking rhymes together.”

Alex laughed.

“It was several hours before anyone noticed we were not sober. I think it was our song that gave us out, or was it the broom dance?”

“The broom dance?”

“Don’t ask. Anyway, there were no Quidditch rules that would forbid wasted players from a game those days. They were added shortly after our match. And, of course, nobody could take my booze away from me. So, in a few days’ time…”

“Days?!” the twins said simultaneously.

“Yeah, this is where it gets ugly. I was so careless those days. I wasn’t thinking about other players or judges who probably planned to spend holidays with their families instead of getting stuck at a Quidditch field. But boy, we had a merry Christmas with Albus”, Mother Goose said dreamily.

“What? With Albus?”

“Yes, this is how our friendship started.”

“Cool”, Conner said. Alex gave him a nasty look.

“Days passed after days, and one sunny afternoon the Snitches showed up.”

“The Snitch _es_? Were Quidditch rules that different those days?”

“Well, our vision wasn’t clear, so Albus and I both saw two balls at a time. We stretched our hands and rushed after them. I tried to catch the left Snitch, and Albus chose the right one. Right was wrong, and left was right.”

The twins shook their heads in confusion.

“Glasgow Gooses won — Hallelujah! And then I was excluded. This is how I understood sport wasn’t meant for me. Albus had to quit his team too, and this is how our adventures started.”

-4-

Alex and Conner were silently processing information. Minister Fudge was first to break the silence.

“You have to receive the heritage, ma’am”, he said.

“Okay, give the bloody Snitch to me, and let’s finish the whole thing.” Mother Goose grabbed the misty ball from the Minister’s hands, and it turned solid — heavy and cold, its color changed from silvery-white to golden.

“Amazing. Can I hold it?” Conner asked at once.

But that very moment something happened to the Snitch. It straightened its wings and opened in Mother Goose’s hand, like a sophisticated ring box, sent from a better place by a dead fiancé.

“Oh”, said Mother Goose.

The twins moved closer to the Snitch. The Minister’s neck grew twice as long when he tried to see what was hidden inside.

Mother Goose turned the golden ball upside down above her hand, and a tiny object fell out. It was a bottle of brownish liquid. The label was so small that Mother Goose handed her gift to Conner, “Can you read what it says?”

Conner tensed his eyes, “ _Ogden’s Old_?”

“Magic booze. Fair enough”, Mother Goose laughed. “He left me as much firewhisky as much — what was it? — ‘perseverance and skill’ I showed at that game.” She uncorked the bottle with her teeth. “To Albus, the great joker.”

Mother Goose sipped a little from her tiny bottle as she didn’t want to empty it with one gulp. But when her lips touched the glass, the bottle suddenly changed its size.

“What the?..” Mother Goose said. “It’s growing in my hands.”

“The Snitch?”

“No, the bottle. Look!” Mother Goose tried to place the bottle inside the Snitch. It didn’t fit anymore! Then she decided to make an experiment. She sipped again, and the bottle grew even bigger. One more sip of good old Ogden’s — and it was the size of mini-bar containers.

Mother Goose thought of another experiment.

“Con… No. Al… Shoot. Lester, oh no, I’m not giving you booze ever again.”

The goose rolled his eyes.

“Minister, would you like to have a drink?”

“Thank you, but I’m at work, ma’am.”

“It’s really good stuff.”

“No. Thank you, ma’am.”

“Men!” Mother Goose mumbled in displeasure. She looked around. Peter was underage, just like Alex and Conner. The Tin Woodman neither ate nor drank. “Red!” she yelled. “Come here, darling, I’ve got some booze for you.”

Red swam through the air approaching the company, swinging her arms, being followed by Peter and the Tin Woodman. “What’s going on?”

“This lovely gentleman”, Mother Goose nodded at the Minister, “brought me some magic booze called Ogden’s Old firewhisky in a bottle that refills itself. Would you like some? Please be careful not to empty the whole thing, ‘cause I’m not sure if refilling charms will work then”, Mother Goose said as she passed the bottle to Red.

Red nodded, made a gulp and felt warm energy spread inside her. She handed firewisky back and flew a few feet up. Mother Goose inspected her precious bottle and found that it didn’t change its size and didn’t refill. Was it broken? Was it limited? Did it only work when its owner was drinking from it?

Too many questions, only one way to find out the truth. Mother Goose took another sip. The bottle grew twice as big and refilled itself. Mother Goose made a happy noise and continued making her gift grow, passing the bottle to Red now and then and telling her, and Peter, and the Tin Woodman who Albus Dumbledore was.

“He would’ve probably helped me to get a heart if he was as talented as you’ve described”, the Tin Woodman said.

“Headmaster? No schooling for me, thank you very much!” Peter said. “Learning makes you old. Ew.”

-5-

The Minister coughed again and took a silvery-misty book out of thin air. As he didn’t have another copy of Albus Dumbledore’s will, he had to speak in his own words.

“This item was left to Alex Bailey.”

“That’s me.” The girl stretched her hand to get the book.

“And this one”, Minister took out an object that looked like an igniter, “is for Conner Bailey.”

“Didn’t you mix it up?” Conner asked.

“I can assure you there’s no confusion.”

“And I can assure you that I am the writer in this family. Why didn’t I get the book?”

“I’m afraid I can’t tell you why thanks to Ms. Goose’s behavior”, the Minister answered.

“That’s obvious, Conner”, Alex said, “because you are the _writer,_ and I am the _reader_ ”.

She took a book from the Minister, and it grew solid and colorful in her hands. The cover didn’t say anything, or rather, it did… in ancient runes.

“Will you read to me?” Peter asked at once, moving closer to the book.

“Just a minute, Peter. Don’t be a grumpy cat, Conner, I’ll share with you. Besides, it’s in runes, so you will not be able to read it”, Alex said as she opened her book.

“Neither will you”, Conner said.

“I’ll learn the language.”

“You sure will”, Conner said with a sigh.

“By the way, deluminator is a cool thing too: you can always hear the voice of someone who loves and misses you most.”

“If it’s such a cool thing, would you mind switching gifts with me?” Conner asked, narrowing his eyes. But he thought it would be cool to hear Bree’s voice, after all.

“Umm”, said his sister, turning the pages. Although the book was in runes, she wouldn’t switch it for a world.

Conner took his deluminator from the Minister and almost dropped it. He wasn’t used to the fact that things could transform right in his hands. Sometimes magic was overwhelming.

The Minister sighed with relief. He announced that his business was finished here and bid good-bye, disappearing into thin air.

“The minute has passed. Alex, read to me, don’t just turn over the pages”, Peter demanded. “The pictures are amazing! And what’s this shiny thing?” he turned to Conner. “Can I try? No, the book first.” He turned back to Alex. “No, the thing first. No, no, the book.”

“Just a minute, Peter”, Alex said. “I’m looking for a story about the three brothers.”

“This kid has serious ADHD”, Conner thought.

“To the book”, Mother Goose said, taking a gulp from the bottle that now was the size of a baby, “and the— Oh, by the way, what’s this deluminator thing? Al didn’t have it when we were travelling together.”

While Conner was explaining what his new device did, Red poured some booze on her handkerchief and started rubbing it into the Tin Woodman’s chest.

“Do you feel warm flow spread through your body?” she asked.

“Please, don’t do it, sweetie. I’ll get rusty.”

“Come on, it’s not water”, tried Red.

“Please stop, I don’t feel warm, I feel cold”, answered the Tin Woodman.

“See, you do feel something! It means that you have a heart.”

“It probably means that I have skin.”

“Oh, stop being so negative! Let’s try and fly, and you’ll see it yourself.”

Red raised to her feet and stood tall, slightly tossing to and fro. She tried to focus, but her brain was as soft as a swan feather pillow. She closed her eyes to concentrate harder, swayed dangerously and instead of taking off almost fell down.

“You can’t fly in this condition, sweetie”, said the Tin Woodman.

“No, I can!” Red tried again. “No, I can’t”, she said sadly. “Too much spirit lowered my spirit.”

“It made you grounded, though”, said the Tin Woodman.

“And it made you rhyme!” added Mother Goose. “That’s fantastic! To my girl Red who discovered a new talent!” and she took a gulp from the bottle which was half her size now.

While Red was busy celebrating her new talent and pronouncing a speech about how she thought she was perfect already, and now she was even more perfect than that, the Tin Woodman, who was afraid that next time she’d rub alcohol into his joints, joined Peter and Alex who were looking for some story in the book.

Alex turned a few more pages, and there it was.

“Look, Peter! I found it.”

“Finally!” Peter said rolling his eyes.

“Once upon a time, there lived three brothers. They were travelling in the countryside, and one night they came to a river”, Alex improvised in a reading tempo, looking at the picture. She touched the sign written in the book by hand — a triangle with a circle and a line in it. Light breeze started blowing under her fingers, and the words became see-through. Alex felt déjà vu. Her fingers were sinking into the page.

“I was a deluminator myself once”, said Mother Goose, “when I cut the wrong electric cords and left the whole city without power for a week.”

Conner wanted to ask which city it was, but suddenly he heard a short scream and turned his head just in time to see Alex sink into the book she was holding a second before. Conner hopped on his feet in no time. Peter and the Tin Woodman tried to stop Alex, but also disappeared inside _The Tales of Beedle the Bard_. When Conner reached the book, it already stopped glowing and fell down to the ground.

“After me, everyone”, said Conner.

Mother Goose put her bottle aside. Red made an attempt to raise to her feet, but failed.

Conner tried to step into the book. Nothing happened. Was it broken? Oh no! Will Alex be able to come back this time?

“It isn’t a regular portal, I suppose”, said Mother Goose, examining the book. “See, nothing happens to me when I hold it. It probably has the same charms as my bottle does”. She hiccupped. “You only have to use it yourself to let magic happen. I think we should wait for Alex to try and activate the portal from where she is now.” She put the book aside.

“Are there wicked witches, monsters, Big Bad Wolves or dangerous places in there?” Red asked, picking up the book. “Why am I asking, though? There’s plenty of this stuff in kids’ reading.” She looked at the pictures. “Whoa! Hope they won’t meet him.”

“Whom?” Mother Goose asked.

Conner swallowed nervously when Red showed them the picture. “Death.”

-6-

Alex, Peter and the Tin Woodman were halfway across the bridge when a hooded figure blocked their path. When Death approached, Alex felt something familiar from earlier that day, but couldn’t put a finger on it.

“What would you like to get from me?” asked Death. “I can give you whatever you wish.”

Peter’s eyes lit up. The Tin Woodman opened his mouth, ready to request a heart. “It’s a trap”, Alex whispered to them quickly. “Don’t ask for anything. I’ll speak.”

Alex’s heart started beating faster, but she felt calm and confident in her core.

“We want you to take off your cloak and hood”, said Alex.

Death laughed. “Do you want to face me? But you’re so young. That would be a pity.”

But Alex was firm in her decision. “Trust me. I read this book”, she whispered to her friends, and her heart started beating even faster.

“Haven’t you decided to stay forever young to avoid me?” Death said to Peter.

Peter started trembling. “I’m not afraid of you”, he said, his teeth clattering.

“It’s okay to be afraid of me, boy, that’s why I’m hiding from you under this hooded cloak. Or, rather, you’re hiding from me. And you”, Death said to the Tin Woodman. “Haven’t you decided to deny your feelings not to die of heartbreak?”

“I have not…” the Tin Woodman started, and stopped with his mouth open, having realized that Death was right.

“You can change your decision”, Death said. “And go back in peace.”

“We’ll never get home if we will”, Alex explained to her friends. “We have to cross the river to go on. But no one said you have to watch. Close your eyes, and I’ll tell you when it’s safe to look.” (“If I’m not mistaken, and I stay alive”, she added in her thought.)

“I won’t let you do it alone, Alex”, said the Tin Woodman. “You’re my friend.”

“I’m not hiding, how dare you!” Peter said, his teeth still clattering a little bit.

Alex smiled to her friends. “We are ready”.

“I warned you”, Death said and took off his cloak.

Alex, Peter and the Tin Woodman gasped.

-7-

For once, Conner didn’t agree with Mother Goose. He didn’t think they had to wait with their hands folded when Alex, Peter and the Tin Woodman were literally facing Death. Mother Goose’s mind wasn’t clear, after all. She was full of firewhisky now. Red was, too. Her cheeks and nose were just as red as her name. Conner tried to take the book from Red, but she said she wanted to help. Besides, the feeling of danger sobered her a little.

Next half an hour Conner and Red were trying every action they could think of. They closed the book and opened it again, they punched it, kicked it, talked to it and looked for clues at every single page, but nothing worked, the book seemed to have no magic in it any more.

Finally, Conner wished “the damn book to burn in hell”, and this is when he thought of the deluminator and fished it out of his pocket.

“Please work”, he begged to himself, a horrifying thought he’d have to give up further attempts to save his sister and his friends slowly dawning on him, making his hair bristle up. “I’ll never talk bad of you again.”

At this moment, the device worked. Conner heard a voice. It was Alex’s voice. Alex was angry.

“Conner!” she shouted. “Stop fiddling with the book for just one second! Put it down, for earth’s sake! We can’t get out, you’re blocking the portal with your anxiety!”

Conner dropped the book and stepped back. 30 seconds later, Alex, Peter and the Tin Woodman came out of it. The Tin Woodman was glowing. And there was something new about Peter: he looked — older?

Conner rushed to the group and hugged his sister tightly.

“Where have you been? I was so worried you would meet Death!”

“Well, we did meet him.”

“Oh my, did he give you something, like a cool wand, or stone, or cloak?”

“No”, Alex said, “but he took something from us.”

“I know!” Red said. “He took your lives, and you returned as ghosts!”

“No, not our lives”, Alex laughed. “Something else.”

-8-

Death dropped his hood and cloak, and the friends gasped.

There was nothing beneath the cloak, except for the starry night sky. Alex froze. This explained the sensation Death made her feel. She experienced it already, looking at the Universe unfolding in front of her earlier that night. Finally, the last jigsaw piece fitted into the picture.

The Tin Woodman was crying his eyes out and wiping his tears not to get rusty.

Peter stopped trembling and lay down, his body pressing into the ground, totally relaxed, his mind empty like the cradle he once escaped.

Alex started hyperventilating. She felt cold, then hot, then she suddenly flew up, and it was the most natural thing in the world.

“Look, it worked!” she shouted to her friends on the ground, tears of joy in her eyes. “I’m finally flying!” And only then Alex realized she didn’t have any pixie dust in her hand.


End file.
